a/n: Okay, this is where things start happening.

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MONDAY:

Alex was being shaken awake violently. As she came slowly into consciousness, she became vaguely aware of someone saying her name repeatedly. She moaned and tried to roll over, but she was still being shaken and yelled at.

"Alex!" The voice belonged to David.

She rolled over quickly, surprising her brother. "What?" she cried, blinking at him angrily.

David jumped slightly at her harsh tone. "Um, you're going to be late for school," he said, backing away from the bed.

"What? What time is it?" Alex cried suddenly, shooting up from the bed and grabbing her alarm clock. 7:32 a.m. it blinked. "Shit!" she screeched, throwing the clock back to the end table. She rounded on David. "Why didn't you wake me up earlier?" She didn't wait for an answer as she ushered him out the room, closing the door behind him.

Alex ran to her dresser and nearly pulled it over trying to get the drawer open. She dug around in it for a shirt, for the first time wishing she wore something other than black so she could tell the clothing apart. Finally, she managed to separate a long sleeved shirt with silver lettering on the front. She wasn't exactly sure what it said, but she knew she wouldn't have anything in her drawer that she didn't like, so she threw it onto the bed. The drawer was slammed shut as she pulled the one below it open. No, those were skirts that she never wore. With a sigh, she slammed the drawer and bolted to her closet. The door stuck. Alex screeched in frustration as she twisted and turned the doorknob, trying to open it.

"What the hell?" she shrieked. Why was it that every time you were in a hurry nearly everything went wrong? She jiggled the doorknob, then shook it, then rammed it violently back and forth. Naturally, it broke off in her hands. "Shit!"

As she ran back to her bed, she threw the doorknob across the room. Cursing everything under the sun, she dropped to the floor and threw the covers up. She shoved her hand under the bed and felt around, her fingers touching numerous articles of clothing she hadn't gotten around to putting in the laundry yet. Normally she would just leave the clothes around her room, but when Bakura came over, she felt the need to shove everything out of sight.

He had walked her home yesterday after she had accidentally spent the night at his house. Jade wasn't home; she was probably doing something with her best friend, Carly. David immediately went upstairs to his room and stayed there at a signal from Alex. She had run upstairs ahead of Bakura and quickly ran around her room and shoved everything under her bed and had flopped down on it casually just as he came through the door.

But Alex was pulling everything back out again as she looked for something to wear. Her hands gripped a pair of black jeans that had faded in parts to a dull gray. Satisfied with what she had grabbed, she struggled to her feet and slipped out of her pajamas, which consisted of a pair of boxers and an old tee shirt. She hopped into the jeans, the material loose around her legs. One of the knees had a large rip in it and the hems around her feet were frayed. After she pulled on her shirt and shoved her feet into socks and her boots, she darted quickly to her door and ran out into the hall.

David was just coming out of his room when Alex rushed past. "Bye Alex," he called, to which he received a wave from his sister. He smiled as she slid down the banister, something she had been doing ever since she met Bakura. She had developed a lot of little habits in the four months she'd had a boyfriend. David couldn't remember any time before Alex's seventeenth birthday when she'd sing in the shower. Or attempt to anyway.

Alex didn't bother to grab breakfast; instead, she raced to the front door, grabbing her leather jacket from the hook. She slid her arms into it and picked up her backpack from the floor.

"See ya' David!" she yelled as she pulled the door open.

"Bye!" her brother called back. He wasn't sure if she heard him or not, though, because a second later there door shut.

Alex checked her watch as she descended the front steps and ran down the driveway. With a sigh, she hitched her backpack onto her shoulder and took off down the street. She made it to the corner in half the time it normally did and as she rounded it, she saw someone walking along the side of the street in the distance. With a grin, she pushed herself to run even faster.

"Bakura!" she called as she neared him. Her backpack was threatening to fall off her arm and she finally let it slip down into her hand, bouncing it along the ground as she ran.

Bakura stopped and turned around, grinning at her as she barreled towards him. "Whoa…!" he exclaimed as Alex crashed into him, knocking the wind from his chest. He heard her laughing as she wrapped her arm around his waist. He rested his arm on her shoulders and grinned at her. "You sure know how to take a guy's breath away," he said, inhaling slowly.

Alex laughed and brought her backpack back up to her shoulder. She too was out of breath from running down the block and it took her a second to get her own wind back.

"Got up late again?" he asked, looking at her.

"Yeah. David was shaking me so hard I thought the house had caught fire," she replied. Bakura laughed and tightened his arm around her shoulders, tousling her hair. "Hey!" Alex cried, trying to shove his hand away. When he stopped, she pulled away from him and pretended she was looking in a mirror, running her hand through her hair.

"Now look what you've done. You've, like, messed up my hair!" she said, putting on a scarily good valley girl accent. She dropped the hand with the 'mirror' to her side and turned to Bakura. "Do you know how long it, like, took me to get it perfect?"

Bakura burst into laughter along with Alex. She moved back to him and they wrapped their arms around each other as they continued to the school, still chuckling. Alex did the funniest impressions of the school preps. Sometimes it was easy to tell which one she was making fun of, others it was just hilarious to watch her twirl her hair idly and giggle ridiculously. She had a different theme for every prep and the gang loved to try to guess who she was acting like.

They reached the school a few minutes later and entered the crowd of students that were filing in. At the top of the steps, Yugi, Tea, Tristan, and Joey were waiting for them. The gang waved and Bakura greeted them when he reached them.

"Heya', love birds," Tristan said, commenting on the way Bakura had his arm around Alex.

They walked into school together and the gang bombarded the couple with questions about Valentine's Day.

"How did it go?" Yugi.

"Was what Bakura cooked edible?" Joey.

"Did you make out?" Tristan.

"Was it really romantic? I'll bet it was, wasn't it?" Tea.

Bakura blushed, but Alex grinned evilly. "Well, it went great. I wound up spending the night," she said. Everyone's jaw dropped.

"You what?" they cried in unison, spinning around to stare at Alex with her grin and Bakura, who's face was imitating the color of a beet. Both laughed at their friends' faces.

"What Alex means is…" Bakura started, trying to get his face to drain of color.

"Is that I had a great time," Alex finished. She had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing at the Tea and Yugi's paling faces.

"You don't mean to tell me you…?" Tea said, looking between Bakura and Alex with huge eyes.

"No Alex," Bakura said, giving his girlfriend a look. She started laughing as he began to explain what had actually happened. "We fell asleep, that's all. So you can all breathe normally again."

"What happened? You chicken out?" Joey asked. Tea elbowed him in the ribs as everyone laughed.

"No, we used our heads. I mean our brains," Bakura corrected quickly as Tristan and Joey's eyes widened and a broad grin spread across their faces. Alex was now leaning on Bakura to keep herself on her feet, she was laughing so hard. "We were smart about it, okay?" Bakura said, blushing violently.

Even Tea was laughing now. Just before the gang split up to go to their lockers, Bakura made them all promise to keep this to themselves so as not to get the wrong message spread across the school. Yugi and Tea agreed immediately, but Tristan and Joey had to get a few mock glares first.

"Okay, fine, ya' wimps," Joey joked, turning down the hall.

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Someone must have leaked, though, because when Alex took a bathroom break before lunch, a group of girls she had never met came up to her and started asking questions.

"So we heard you had fun on Valentine's Day," the brunette said, washing her hands.

Alex raised her eyebrow, but couldn't help but grin. "Yeah."

"You spent the night with Bakura is what I heard," the blonde said, leaning on the counter.

"Ah," Alex said, flicking water droplets from her fingers into the sink. She walked over to the paper towel dispenser and pulled out a few. "We just fell asleep, that's all."

"Are you sure?" said a girl with long brown hair. She was sitting on the counter, a grin on her lips.

"Wouldn't I know?" Alex asked, her eyebrows rising.

"But you did sleep there?"

"With him?"

"Yeah. But there was actual sleep involved," Alex said. She had to admit, though, she liked the attention. It had been a while since anyone other than the gang and David had cared about what she did.

"Man, what a bummer," the blonde said.

"You can't honestly say the thoughts never crossed your mind, though, can you?" the brunette with the long hair asked.

Alex gaped at her. "That's a personal question!"

"Oh please," all three said.

"You two are probably the only couple in this school who haven't slept together," the shorthaired brunette said.

"So? I feel no need to be like everyone else," Alex said indignantly.

"I didn't say you should be. I was merely stating a fact."

"Okay. Good. Keep stating facts. Go around and clear up the fact that I only spent the night at Bakura's house, not with Bakura," Alex said, throwing her paper towels in the trashcan.

"Okay," the girls said as Alex left.

She met up with Bakura at their lockers and they grinned at each other.

"Word is getting around," he said as they headed towards the cafeteria.

"Wonder who spilled," Alex replied.

"Joey probably."

"Maybe."

The hallways were emptying and soon Alex and Bakura were only running into another student every once in a while. When they reached the cafeteria, Bakura spotted a girl sitting in the corner of the hall. He glanced at Alex to see if she noticed, but she didn't seem to.

"I'll meet you in there, okay?" he said to her.

"Where are you going?" Alex asked, her brow furrowing in confusion.

"I just have to do something. I'll see you in a minute," he said.

"Okay. I'll save you a spot," she replied with a shrug. After the cafeteria door had swung shut behind her, Bakura turned to the girl who still sat in the corner, her knees against her chest and her forehead resting on them.

As Bakura walked over to her slowly, he could hear her soft sobs. He sat down next to her, but she didn't seem to notice. Her blonde hair flowing over her face looked incredibly familiar and as he stared at her, he realized who she was. But why was Elsie Bridges sitting in the hall, crying?

It took him a second to find his voice. "What's wrong?" he asked.

Elsie started and looked at him briefly, her eyes red. "What do you want?" she sniffed.

"Why are you crying?" he asked softly, wondering if this was a good idea or not. Should he be sitting here next to Elsie trying to comfort her after all the times she had made a fool out of him? What if it got around school and the rumor went out that he had a crush on her again?

But as she started crying again, all thoughts of himself left his head. After a split second of hesitation, he placed his hand on her shoulder. "What's wrong? What happened?"

"It's none of your business," she said, her voice cracking. But before Bakura could reply, she sat up and launched into the whole story, tears streaming down her face. "I got into a fight with the girls," she sobbed. "Darcy likes this guy, but he's completely not good enough for her and I told her that when she told me. But I couldn't talk her out of liking him and she said she wouldn't do anything about it, just that I shouldn't tell anyone. And I didn't! But somehow the guy found out and Darcy got mad at me because she thought I told him. And Rita, Brittany, and Julie all took Darcy's side and now they're all mad at me and I don't have any friends!" Elsie dropped her forehead back onto her knees as tears began to pour out of her eyes again.

Bakura stared at her for a second. He couldn't help but think what a stupid thing it was that she was bawling over. Alex would never cry if someone accused her of something as ridiculous as that. Alex wouldn't even be bothered by it. But then, Elsie wasn't Alex. Her life pretty much revolved around her friends and as he thought about it, he supposed getting in a fight with the other preps was a big deal to her.

"Of course you have friends," he said, trying to think of something constructive to say. "They may not be the most popular people in the school, but they're nice." As apposed to Rita and the girls, he thought.

Elsie snapped her head to Bakura and glared at him. "You don't get it! I have to be popular! If I'm not, all my friends won't want to talk to me and then I'll get depressed and not make good grades and then my parents will be disappointed in me and that's the worst thing that can happen!" she sobbed.

Bakura blinked at her. This girl has a few issues. "Here, why don't you sit with me and Alex?" he said after a minute.

"Are you kidding?" she asked, sniffing. "I'd be laughed at for sitting with geeks!"

He frowned. Alex had called him a geek plenty of times, but he knew she didn't really mean it as an insult. "It's up to you. You can be friendless and depressed, or you can have friends that aren't as popular as you'd like. I'll be in the cafeteria. Come over if you want." With that, he stood up and headed through the cafeteria doors.

He saw Alex sitting by herself at a table by the doors and he went over to her. "Hey," he said, sitting down beside her.

"Hey, what took so long?" she asked.

"Oh, I…" he started, but a shadow was cast over them.

"Do you mind…?" Bakura looked up to see Elsie, her eyes still red from crying.

"What do you want?" Alex snarled.

"Alex," Bakura warned. She gaped at him as he turned back to Elsie. "Of course not. Sit down."

"Bakura, can I talk to you for a minute?" Alex said in a sickeningly sweet voice. Without waiting for an answer, she grabbed his sleeve and dragged him off the bench and across the cafeteria.

"Alex, did you look at her? She's been crying her eyes out…" he started, but cut off immediately at his girlfriend's death glare.

"She's a prep! What the hell do you think you're doing? If you think I'm going to agree to this you're insane!" she hissed.

"She's just been in an argument with the other preps and she's feeling really bad," Bakura said desperately. He should have known Alex wouldn't take it well; how could he think she would?

"I don't believe what I'm hearing!" She started to say something else, but then her eyes blazed fiercely. "It's because she's Elsie Bridges, isn't it? If you so much as think about going with her I'll never speak to you again, do you understand?" she snarled.

Bakura stared at her. "Is that what you think? That I still like her? Alex, don't be ridiculous! Look, just bear with me for a little while. She can't stay mad at the preps forever, eventually she'll decide to go back to Rita and we'll be home free."

Alex stared at him for a minute and Bakura could almost see the wheels turning in her head, trying to decide what to do. "Fine. But you go nowhere alone with her, do you understand me?" she said, poking him in the chest.

Bakura made a face. "Why would I want to? Come on let's go back. As I said before, we'll probably only be stuck with Elsie for a few days. She's a prep at heart and she won't be able to stand being with us unpopular folk for very long."

"You'd better be right. I don't want some bitchy blonde bimbo hanging around me all the time. It'll ruin my image," she snarled as they walked back to the table. Bakura couldn't help but chuckle as he draped his arm around her shoulder. That seemed to lighten Alex's mood a little because he felt her relax a little. Maybe it was the fact that Bakura wasn't afraid to show that he and Alex were together in front of Elsie. When they sat down, she deliberately guided him to the opposite side of the table from Elsie. He didn't object and she relaxed even more.

"Thanks…um…" Elsie said, looking at Bakura. She rotated her hand slowly in a circle, trying to think of his name. "Um…"

"Bakura Ryou," he said. "And this is Alex Moore, my girlfriend."

"Hi," Elsie said, giving both a weak smile as she sniffed. "Thanks for doing this for me, Bakura. And Alex too; I know I'm not exactly your favorite person in the world."

"You've noticed," Alex said coolly. Bakura elbowed her hard in the ribs and she glared at him. She sighed as she saw Elsie was on the verge of tears again.

"Don't mind Alex, she needs to work on her people skills," Bakura said, giving his girlfriend a look. Alex's eyes blazed and her fists clenched under the table and she stared at him.

What? she shrieked to herself. Bakura, watch yourself…

His statement seemed to make Elsie feel a little better, though, because she laughed quietly. She sniffed again and wiped her eyes, giving the couple a small smile. "So, what do you guys usually talk about? Maybe I can get an inside look on the unpopular world."

Bakura felt a little self-conscious being in the presence of his old crush, but he knew that should anything bad happen Alex would whisk him away as if there was a fire. "Um, we don't talk about nails if that's what you're asking," he said and Elsie laughed, a beautiful soft sound. He was glad to realize that this time it didn't make his stomach flutter.

"I suppose you really do have a bad impression of me, huh?" she said, her smile fading slightly. She sniffed again and folded her arms on the table. "I guess I'd always wondered how the unpopular people saw us. I knew most were envious and I liked that. I wanted to be the girl everyone loved I guess."

"Then why do you act like such a bitch?" Alex snapped. She let out a tiny squeak as Bakura elbowed her in the ribs again.

But Elsie didn't seem too disturbed by Alex's remark. "Yeah I was kind of mean. And I know it doesn't mean anything now, but I am sorry. I just got caught up in it all I guess. Rita can be so overbearing sometimes and if you don't do everything her way she can be so cruel and she'd throw you out of the group and make you an outcast…" Tears were running down her cheeks again and she sniffed and wiped them away desperately.

"Rita can be a snob sometimes," Bakura agreed. He could feel Alex's glare and ignored it, forcing himself to keep his eyes on Elsie.

"Yeah, she can. I don't know why I ever let her influence me! It's just that she was so popular because she's just so gorgeous and when she thought I was too I just got caught up in it. I was popular and that made me feel great, so I was happy all the time and I was doing well in cheerleading and my parents were proud of me and… and I just wanted to make them happy. Only once they were happy I was like, why can't I be too? And Rita got her way with everything the way she acted, so I figured I could be the same way and be perfect. Guys loved me and even you liked me for a bit and that really got my ego swelled," Elsie said, staring at her hands. Her eyes were watering again, but she seemed to be fighting it better this time. She didn't notice the death glare Alex was sending her way, which was probably for the best.

Bakura could feel a small blush creep into his cheeks at her mention of his previous crush. He had hoped she would have forgotten. "You got caught up in the moment, that's understandable," he said, praying Alex wouldn't beat him up the first chance she got.

"I know. And I'm really sorry… both of you," Elsie croaked, sniffing again. A solitary tear rolled down her cheek and she didn't bother wiping it away. Her sky blue eyes were glistening with more tears, but no more fell.

"You realize it's going to take more than an apology to get me to warm up to you. And if this is some plot to…" Alex started, but this time Bakura turned on her.

"Stop it! Get a grip, Alex!" he cried, his brown eyes sharp.

Alex fell silent as she stared at him in shock. In all the time she had known him, he had never even come close to yelling at her. Suddenly a fleeting thought flew through her mind. What if Elsie's new attitude would bring Bakura and Alex's relationship to an end? She didn't think she could handle it if that happened. Bakura and David were all she had in the world and no prep was going to destroy that. In a few seconds, Alex resolved to be nice (or at least civil) to Elsie if it killed her. She'd have to prove to Bakura that she was better than Elsie and always would be. That would have to start now.

"Sorry," Alex grunted, the word unfamiliar to her. She could probably have counted all the times she had apologized on one hand.

"It's all right. You have every reason to be skeptical. I know that we'll probably never be friends, but maybe we could at least try to be decent to each other?" Elsie said, a hopeful look on her face as she dried her face.

"Yeah," Alex managed, unable to look her in the face. She couldn't believe she was being nice to a prep…

Elsie gave her a small smile. "Thanks, Alex. You're really taking this better than I had expected, you know?"

"Yeah, I know."

Bakura stared at Alex in shock. He couldn't believe his ears. Did she just apologize to Elsie? He pinched himself to be sure he hadn't just drifted off. He shook himself out of it when he realized that the conversation had stopped. "Um… do you want anything to eat? I know what they serve here barely qualifies as food, but it's something," he said out of desperation.

Alex looked at him, her eyes cold. You'd better be talking to me. Her gaze seemed to intimidate him because he then addressed her.

"Chocolate or vanilla pudding?" he asked.

"Chocolate," she replied and he could hear the satisfaction in her voice. It was almost as if she was reminding him of the fact that he was hers and should go nowhere near any other girl. He had to admit, he liked the fact that she was a little jealous. He'd never seen her jealous before, but it was cute.

"Sure," Bakura said, smiling at her. She gave him a half smile in return that vanished the second he turned to Elsie. "Anything for you?"

"No thanks, they're serving Mystery Stew again," she said, wrinkling her nose.

Alex jumped at the chance to disgust Elsie. "Yeah," she said grinning. "God knows what they put in there. You might be eating roasted rat for all you know. I've heard rumors."

Elsie's eyes widened to the size of saucers and it was all Alex could do not to burst into laughter. "You… you're not serious!"

"No, she's not. She does that all the time to Tea, don't worry," Bakura said. "Behave while I'm gone, Alex," he said, winking subtly at her as he got up. Alex grinned as he touched her shoulder when he passed by. Her grin faded, though, as she heard Elsie sigh.

"You're really sweet together, you know? When I first heard about you two I was like, no way, that's a joke. A geek and a punk? That's good enough for the headlines! But now I see that's completely wrong. You're perfect for each other. Each of you provides a nice contrast to the other and it's really cute to watch you. Sometimes I kind of wish I had a guy I was as close with as you are with Bakura," Elsie said almost wistfully.

Alex stared at her. This is a joke. This can't be reality. There's no way Elsie Bridges is as innocent and pure as this. Something's not right here. "Yeah…" she just said, unsure of what else she could say. She stared into Elsie's eyes and, even though that perfect, innocent blue of her eyes could have fooled just about anyone, there was a hint of something that shouldn't be there. Untruth. And suddenly she felt as though a rock had been dropped into her stomach. What was going to happen? Something was being planned, but there was no way she'd get Bakura to believe it. He was one for believing in forgiveness. And even Alex had to admit that Elsie was pretty convincing. She was able to do the hurt, sorry little girl very well and get a ton and a half of pity she didn't deserve. So, was this all an act? Or was there really truth in what she was saying?

A few minutes later, though, Bakura came back to the table and tried to strike up a conversation with both girls, but wound up on the Linkin Park concert Alex and he were going to see with Alex and the latest movies that had come out with Elsie. It made for a very weird lunch hour. He was very relieved when the bell rang and it was time for class again. He was even gladder when he realized Elsie wasn't in any more of his classes for the rest of the day. It was just he and Alex again and when he smiled at her as he draped his arm around her shoulders, he got a smile in return.

a/n: Okay, the chaos has just begun. It gets better (or worse) from here, so review if you want me to post!